Woodworking blog entries tagged with 'clamp'

I got my carving fixture completed today. Now I should be able to make some more progress on the carving. Been going slow because I have been focused on rehabilitation of my leg. Finally able to put a little weight on it (30%) and this means increased exercise, physical therapy and such. I’m still adjusting to the new level of activity.
The fixture is made from some borg 3/4”by 24” by 24” plywood squares. I laminated two sheets together for the top to support...

A long time ago, I said I would post a blog entry showing how I plane really big pieces using my router planer. Well, here goes.
I started out with some really big cottonwood rounds (that’s my son in the first photo):
I cut them into 5” to 6” thick slabs and had to figure out a way to plane them down to 3” to 4” thick to use as table tops for TV stands and coffee tables. That’s when I came up with the Big Boy Router Planer below:
I just hap...

Awhile back, I began posting a series of blogs on the evolution of my router planer. Since that time I’ve actually made three more minor modifications that have had a huge impact on how well this thing works.
The first modification: I was always frustrated with how long it took to measure the height at which to set the cross members of the planer using my square in a slotted 2×4. Well, I finally came up with a solution so simple even I was amazed (not the brightest bulb in the p...

I have officially made a clock! It ticks, it tocks, it dings and dongs. I can hear the chimes ringing as I write this update for you. Here’s what I’ve done to be able to call this an actual clock.
I’ve added a support to the dado I cut in the sides. This one is for the dial door. You can see the dado for the mechanism support behind it. Here’s a head on shot of the mechanism support too. That all looked fine but I thought that adding a cross piece at the top ...

This is the last post required to complete the build and make ready for applying the finish of my choice to get this one in the books. Once all the drawer fronts have been joined to the sides, and those cut to rough length, I had to work on adding backs to the drawers as well as bottoms. All drawer backs were set into simple dados that were cut on the table saw.
For the Big Drawer as well as the Big Pair of drawers, the drawer bottom consists of a single piece of repurposed hardboa...

Well, with the boards for the top cut to rough length and rough thickness, and the general layout for the top decided on, it’s time to start squaring up the lumber and getting ready to glue the top all together. I started out with jointing one face and one edge flat and square on the 6” general jointer. I set up a roller stand to the exact height on both the infeed and outfeed side. It’s time consuming, but squaring all the lumber is probably the single most important step i...

1. Used two metal parallel arms of the same length. This makes possible a wider range of size variations since the router tray can be moved along a longer distance in relation to the template. Furthermore, lifting the router is easier when moving the stylus to a new position.http://www.flickr.com/photos/edurink/5935802701/
The earlier version of this router pantograph is found here: http://lumberjocks.com/projects/50802
2. One problem noted in the original set up is the tendency for th...

I am up to the nerve wracking part of this build. I need to put some dados into the sides of the clock, but since both the sides and front/back are angled, the dados need to be angled. I’ve been thinking about how to do this since I started this project. Use a stack dado set and the table saw? Yeah, that would work, but I don’t think the cut will be as precise as I need it to be and the cut would register on the front edge of one side and the back edge of the other side. That...

I am thinking of making a wooden fixture to hold the work piece when doing relief carving. I am trying to work around several constraints. For example, I really do not have access to the tools and equipment in my shop at the moment, so I am thinking of using common lumber that can be obtained from the local Home Depot or similar big box store. Also moving around the work is a hassel with my broken leg, so I would like to be able to be able to quickly rotate the work piece. This makes m...

A harbor freight just opened up 5 minutes from my house, not really to get into the debate of “to harbor freight or to not harbor freight”, I never turn down a free clamp. Harbor freight has a ton of coupon deals, one of the coupon’s is a free 12’’ ratchet clamp with a 20$ purchase. (not sure if we’re allowed to link to other sites or what not, but if you google “slickdeals harbor freight” you’ll find a forum thread that lists all their cu...